Seven: Heaven.

LOL RHYME. This is meant as a continuation of Seeking Solace.

NOTE: Heaven was replaced with the Spirit World. Sorry. Some things have to be adapted, see. There is no heaven in the Avatar world... there's only the Spirit World.


She had never really known anyone that had died. When the pottery maker's son went off to war and did not return, it didn't make a difference to her. The only thing it changed was the topic at dinner. Instead of talking about how dreadfully smoky the horizon had been lately, her parents said things about how 'sad it was that he died at such a young age.' Her mother would nod, carefully taking a spoonful of her soup. 'He was serving his country… such honor.'

Toph had never known the pottery maker's son. She had never even known the pottery maker, himself. It didn't make a difference to her. She knew Sokka's dad, Hakoda, and when he died she felt sadness. Not only because the man who died was always very nice to her, but also because it made Sokka sad and lost. Toph had comforted Sokka as Aang had comforted Katara at the funereal. Zuko hung around with Mai and Ty Lee, looking somber in the background.

But now it was different. Because when your own father died, it was your father. It wasn't Sokka's dad or the pottery maker's son. It was a relative. A person Toph had known her whole life.

"How are you holding up?"

Sokka stepped out of the Bei Fong's house, into the garden. It had taken him a moment to locate Toph in the darkened courtyard, but he had found her below a large tree. She was sitting on a stone bench, her shoes off and her toes carefully pressed into the cool earth.

He handed her a glass of some drink that her mother had been serving to the people who were attending the funeral. "I…" she trailed off. She didn't like lying to Sokka. Things had been different since she had gone to his father's funeral. They were closer, now. "I don't know."

He looked at her for a moment, studying her.

"I'm not lying." She told him honestly, taking a drink out of her cup. "I… don't know how I should feel."

Sokka took a seat down next to her, noticing that her makeup had clean streaks from where her tears had rolled down her cheeks. "There's no set way you should feel. Just… feel. There aren't any rules for how you should feel when this – this happens."

She nodded, but kept her heart tight in her chest. If I don't think about it, this hurt will go away, she told herself, squeezing her cup a little too tightly. The fragile pottery shattered, covering the black-haired woman with a dark liquid.

"Toph – " Sokka said, standing so he wouldn't get the liquid on his shirt. He started to wipe the liquid off of her hand with a handkerchief he produced from somewhere in his pocket, before he stopped.

Her hand was shaking. No – she was shaking. Her shoulders were shaking as she silently cried. She lifted her dark purple hand (for the drink had been dark purple) and tucked her dark hair behind her ears. He noticed that her fingertips smeared the dark purple drink across her cheeks as she tucked her hair away.

"It's – it's going to s-stain – " she cried, standing.

He nodded, taking her hand and starting to walk towards her house. "Go inside. I'm sure you have more than one dress."

"No, I d-don't want to," she said firmly, rooting her feet into the ground with her Earthbending. She pointed in the direction of a pond. "There's a pond over there. I'll just g-go wash it off."

Sokka sighed, looking from her to the house. Make her change into another dress! That one will stain and then it will be ruined, said a voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Katara. No… don't. She needs you. Just go take care of her, said another voice that also sounded like Katara.

He looked at her. From her long hair that was falling into her face to the streaks of purple across her cheeks… from the clean tear lines across her makeup to the fresh tears that were ready to spill over from her eyes… they all spelled one thing out to Sokka: Help. It looked like Toph was asking for help. Silently. But definitely. It was in the way she had carried herself through the funeral. So carefully, as if she was walking on turtleduck egg shells. She looked… fragile.

Not unlike me when I came to her after dad died… he thought. He gripped her hand tightly, leading her over to the shallow pool. In the moonlight it was shining, but he could see the fish swimming around in it.

She stopped at the shore, before pulling off her headband and letting her bangs spill into her eyes. Next, she reached a purple hand around to tug at the base of her head. Faintly, he wondered what she was doing. In a moment his question was answered, as her black hair fell down past her shoulders and she produced a silver hairpin.

Wordlessly, she handed both the headband and the hairpin to him, before gently wading into the small pond. He watched her in fascination, his eyes never leaving her.

Toph walked into the middle of the pond, the water only going up to her waist. He watched as she leaned back into the pond, floating in the moonlight. Her black hair looked like ink on the blue velvet water. Small ripples appeared as her tears joined the pond water, even as she closed her eyes and tried to stop them.

"Uh, Toph," he said finally, breaking the ethereal spell that had come over the garden. "I think your mom will notice when you come into the house with your whole dress wet…"

"Doesn't matter." She said quietly, opening her eyes and standing. He noticed that the purple liquid that had been on her dress wasn't there anymore. Or maybe it was. Her whole dress was soaked, so he couldn't be sure. "I'll dry."

He nodded, handing her the hairpin and headband. She shook her head (spraying him with water) and spoke. "I'll just wear my hair down." She said, sitting back down onto the bench. "I'm not going to waste time by putting it up… everyone will be gone in an hour; I don't want to have to be dressed up anymore."

Sokka nodded again, joining her on the stone bench. "Okay." He took a swig of his own purple drink, sighing and rubbing his eye with his free hand.

They sat in silence for a long while, before Toph spoke. "Do you think there are blind people in the Spirit World?"

"Uhhhh…" Sokka trailed off, thinking. "I don't know. But I do know one thing."

"What?"

"There aren't any bathrooms." He said seriously, though Toph laughed slightly. He noticed that it sounded kind of forced, which didn't surprise him. She had just been crying a few minutes ago.

She tilted her head. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. Would I lie to you?"

She hesitated, before shaking her head. "No. But how do you know?"

"I was there." He told her, draining his cup. He held it in his hands, looking out at the garden. It seemed like it was forever ago that he had picked up that ransom note, exclaiming that he had the Boulder's autograph. "Giant angry spirit kidnapped me… it's a really long, really boring story."

"So you've been to the Spirit World… were there any blind people?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. There was a faceless monkey… I guess he was blind."

"Faceless?"

"Yeah. The Spirit World is a crazy place, Toph. It's really big. I'm sure there are blind people there. And if not…" he reached over, touching her chin and lifting it up. "You'll be the first one. The Runaway… goes to the Spirit World. It'll be a big adventure."

She nodded, smiling. "Thank you, Sokka… I appreciate it. And not just the story. This whole… day has been really crazy. I don't know how I would have gotten through it… without you…"

"Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty sure Katara's hope talk would eventually have the same effect. Might have taken a little longer, though. You could've been in that pond until winter."

Toph smiled again, hugging him with one arm as they sat. "No, I don't think it would have had the same effect. So… thank you."

One arm wasn't good enough for the Water Tribe Chief. He sat his cup on the edge of the bench, reaching around to hug her tightly. "Anytime," he breathed, pressing his lips to her forehead.


NO SPOILERS BELOW…

So, Avatar is over. I finished watching the finale about five hours ago. Sadface. It was epic, don't get me wrong. But Avatar is overrrr. SAAAAD. I know everyone, no matter what ship you support, will enjoy this last epic movie.